New Choice
For predecessor to this party, see Choice (Luthori) 127,000|Ideology = Liberal Socialism, Social Democracy, Secularism, Catch-all |Political position = Left/Centre-Left|Affiliation = International Secularist Society Socialist International League for Individual Rights International Lesbian & Gay Rights Association (ILGRA) The Left Coalition Socialist Coalition (Luthori Liberal Representative Organization Artanian Socialist Congress |Colour = Orange|Seats1 Title = Holy Imperial Diet|Seats1 = |Seats2 Title = Electoral Regions Held|Seats2 = |Seats3 Title = Cabinet Positions|Seats3 = |Website = www.newchoice.lu|party_logo = |politics = Politics of Luthori|political parties = Political Parties of Luthori|elections = Most Recent General Election}} New Choice, later re-named simply Choice but still known as either name, was a political party that operates in the United Commonwealth of Luthori, originally the Holy Luthori Empire and was founded in October 3959. It was founded as a response to the lack of left-wing voice in Luthori politics at the time, by Jason Chandler and as a "resistance" to the increasingly strong right-wing political nature of the nature during the late 3950s and early 3960s. New Choice is the "successor" party to the original Choice originally founded by Ensor Taylor in 3832 and later on re-founded by Joe Purefoy 3899. The party in its first election won 77 seats, coming second out of nine contesting parties. However after another election that year making a net gain of only 3 seats, another snap election was called for 3964 in which the party boosted its gains with an additional 25 seats and enabled them to lead a coalition with the SDL and Liberal Alliance. However this coalition ended in 3967 after large Conservative Party gains and them instead forming a cabinet. Following this, the party replaced their leader Jason Chandler with backbencher Zaha Nazir. This proved to negatively impact on the party with Nazir's popularity dwindling after a mere few months in office. Due to this and the rise of other progressive parties, the party took a major hit in the 3971 general election coming fourth place. Immediately after the election, Oliver Davies, former shadow minister for internal affairs was elected as the next party leader. A year later Davies competed in the 3972 and made moderate gains, with the Republican Unity Coalition of Luthori being formed with New Choice included and the coalition made Luthori into a republic. However despite support for the constitutional reforms, the party along with the ruling Progress Party made substantial losses during the 3974 general election with the latter being almost completely wiped out. Following this Davies resigned immediately and backbencher Dean Trump was elected as the new party leader. Trump's tenure as leader fared even worse, despite his views on the Communist skirmishes happening in Luthori at the time were greatly praised, his party made further losses in the 3978 due to the rise of harder socialism than the party could offer, with most socialist leaning voters instead choosing the Luthori People's Union or the Social Democratic League. Joshua Maisey was elected as the next party leader and re-branded the party majorly, removing the "New" from the party's name. Following yet another dire election result and the overwhelming influx of new parties, particular those of socialist and social-democratic routes, Choice dissolved and Choice members merged into other progressive movements such as the SDL and the LPU. History During the late 3950s, the right-wing in Luthori grew to its largest dominance for many decades. For a long time the only outright left-wing or centre-left party was the Social Democratic League, traditionally always and ally to the original Choice party. However the SDL dissolved leaving no left-wing voice in major party politics in Luthori whatsoever with the Reform Party of Luthori, a third-way centralist party being the most progressive and smallest voice in the Diet. This called many concerned progressive Luthorian's into action and founded a new Choice party, due to Choice leaving the largest legacy in recent years in terms of progressive politics in the nation. Many politician's previously a part of the Social Democratic League including Jason Chandler himself founded New Choice soon after the July 3959 General Election, however sadly not registering in time to compete in the election. Following this election, a broad right-wing coalition was ruling Luthori, mostly compiled of the Progressive Conservative Party (ironically the least progressive party in Luthori) which later changed its name to the Hosian Democratic Union, and the Luthori People's Party. However the official coalition also included the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative Party of Luthori, giving the national government a supermajority. New Choice began proposing bills as soon as it could, sadly with many failing to pass due to the strong right-wing majority. In the July 3963 general election, New Choice managed to win 77 seats, coming second out of nine contesting political parties. Immediately after the election the People's Party of Luthori dissolved and many members deciding to join other right-wing parties such as the Hosian Democratic Union in order to maximize success. However in doing this all members of the party vacated their seats, triggering a snap election in the September of that year where the Hosian Democratic Union won 39 more seats with New Choice remaining in second place making a net gain of only 3 seats. However the HDU eventually dissolved following troubles in forming a government and also in-fighting among the party. This made another election necessary, this time in July 3964 in which New Choice made a large net gain of 25 seats, earning 105 seats and coming second to the Conservative Party by only 5 seats. Following this, the party were able to form a coalition government in partnership with the Social Democratic League and the Liberal Alliance with Jason Chandler becoming the Imperial Chancellor. The coalition lasted until 3967 when an election was called. Although New Choice only made small losses, the Conservative Party of Luthori made massive gains and managed to persuade the Liberal Alliance into a coalition with them alongside the National Party of Luthori as opposed to renewing their coalition with New Choice and the SDL. This was seen as a sensible move due to the Conservatives having over 40% of the votes. Following this, Jason Chandler announced his intention to step down as party leader in late 3967 and announced a leadership election would be held, with backbencher Zaha Nazir becoming the next party leader. Nazir is the first major political leader in Luthori to be of Badaran decent. Nazir began her term in office being very popular among the party however from the outset she was less than popular with right-leaning Luthorians, more so than most other Choice leaders. However after her first few months in office her popularity decreased, eventually dramatically due to her perceived ineffectiveness and the rise of other progressive parties in Luthori along with the perceived view that the party had become a part of the establishment. All these factors cost the party 40 seats in Nazir's first election with the party instantly firing her as party leader. Oliver Davies was immediately elected party leader. Major changes in Luthori occurred under Davies' leadership of the party. An early election was called a year after Davies became leader due to the Luthori Independence Party dissolving in which the party made moderate gains. However for the first time in modern Luthorian history, republican parties had 2/3rds of the legislature, and the Republican Unity Coalition of Luthori was formed. Under this coalition the monarchy was removed and the Holy Luthori Empire was replaced with the United Commonwealth of Luthori. However despite making popular constitutional changes with the coalition, the party took a major hit in the 3974 general election and came last in the first presidential election. This prompted Oliver Davies to instantly quit as party leader, staying until a new leader was chosen. The party went on to elect Dean Trump almost instantly after the election. Trump was a backbencher within the party who had only entered politics and joined the party in time for the 3971 general election. However he quickly rose up in the party, mostly famous for criticizing Oliver Davies' quiet and calm style of campaigning, or as Trump labeled him, "timid". His more aggressive, forward and blunt campaign style was the polar opposite of Davies' style and contrasted mostly with every other New Choice and Choice leader before him, being most similar to Jason Chandler and to a degree Margaret Sturgeon. Trump was particular hostile to the national government which he was a part of, after legalizing paramilitaries with the Luthori People's Union's communist paramilitary wreaking havock in parts of the nation. Chancellor Madeleine Bassett proposed new temporary measures to avert the crisis becoming too chaotic which Trump's party reluctantly agreed to, despite heavy criticisms and blaming the Chancellor, President and HSP for allowing this crisis to happen in the first place. Following further skirmishes from communist paramilitaries, blame was largely put on the newly installed republic, although Dean Trump heavily blasted these claims, instead blaming the legalization of paramilitaries to begin with, along with more oppressive policies brought forward by the Liberal Alliance and Hosian Socialist Party including having the president choose local mayors as opposed to direct election. Although these views were highly praised with even the Chancellor apologizing to Trump at one point, Trump's party took further hits in the 3978 due to the rise of harder socialism which was offered by the Luthori People's Union and the Social Democratic League, with New Choice being labeled as a more liberal-leaning party of late. Following this, Dean Trump immediately announced that he would step down as party leader, but would stay on until the next leader was elected which has become and unofficial party tradition. A month later Joshua Maisey was selected, the first black leader of New Choice and the second black leader of Choice and New Choice combined, with Nick O'Malley being the first black leader of Choice or indeed the first black leader of any major political party in Luthori in modern history. Maisey is the second black leader of a major Luthorian political party in modern times. Following Maisey's elected as party leader, he undertook major changes to the party to address the dwindling popularity it was experiencing at the time. Due to New Choice being around for 20 years and the increasingly negative image of New Choice, Maisey removed the "New" from the name and went with the name "Choice", just like the predecessor party. Maisey also had a cabinet re-shuffle and proposed bills far more frequently to boost the party's image. Policies Economic Policy The party operates under a liberal socialist economic policy, opposing much privatization of key national industries such as schools. The party seeks to re-nationalize many industries that had previously been privatized under more conservative and liberal rule in the past, however New Choice accepts some privatization in certain areas, not pandering to extremes on either side. Military The party identifies as moderately pacifist, opposing any nuclear or chemical weapons being used on any civilian areas. Despite being a somewhat pacifist party, the party states that it is "not afraid to take stern action when needed", with the party supporting "sensible defense of the country". The party endorses the use of more conventional military weaponry as opposed to more advanced warfare such as air strikes, with Jason Chandler stating "a soldier with a gun can tell easier the difference between a civilian and an enemy to that of a bomb". Civil Rights The Party is progressive with civil rights, strongly opposing any social conservatism. The party strongly supports LGBT rights and opposes any discrimination based on race, gender or sexual orientation. Healthcare The party supports strong nationalization of hospitals, mostly opposing any privatization in healthcare. However unlike many members of old Choice, the official party stance does not fully oppose privatization in healthcare although it still strongly supports strong regulation to filter out corruption or malpractice. The party also supports more government funding for abortions and contraception with many in the party believing that they are necessities. Constitution Unlike the original party, New Choice does not run on a fully republican platform, realizing that this made them unpopular in many areas of Luthori and hindered some of their electoral performance. Along with this, it also made alliances more difficult with other political parties. The party officially take a neutral stance on the monarchy, with many party members still identifying as pragmatic republicans although a very small sector of the party actually identify as monarchists. However Jason Chandler stated "although this iteration of Choice is not this time a republican party, we are by no means a monarchist party either, officially taking no policy upon the monarchy whatsoever". Many members of the party including Justice Minister Jonathan Wright has spoken in favor of Luthori having a president as well as a monarchy, with the president mostly being in-charge of diplomatic affairs abroad and working along side the monarch as their key advisor elected by the people, to further appease both republicans and monarchists. When Oliver Davies took over as party leader in 3971, he made the party's stance on the monarchy once again officially republican. Many within the party also seeks to replace the "Holy" in Holy Luthori Empire due to it being "overly religious". However some in the party believe that it could perhaps be problematic due to many being attached to the traditional name. During the 3972 election, republican parties gained the necessary 2/3rds of the legislature to depose the monarchy. The Progress Party formed the Republican Unity Coalition of Luthori with New Choice, the Luthori People's Union and the Social Democratic League which deposed the monarchy along with other cast constitutional changes such as changing the nation's official name. Upon removing the monarchy, party leader Oliver Davies made a heartfelt speech: "It has been one of our primary objectives for 141 years to depose the monarchy and bring further democracy to Luthori. and it has finally happened. It's not been easy, for a time being our party even had to take an official policy of neutrality towards the monarchy in order to be electable and able to make a real difference to Luthori. However now that the majority of the nation finally voted for democracy, we are beaming that we have been able to play a vital role in this. It is regrettable many great Choice leaders such as Ensor Taylor and Joe Purefoy never lived to see their dream come true, but if they could see this moment right now, I know that they would be absolutely ecstatic. So Gustavus Edward Randolph, it leaves me with great joy to see you leave this building at long last!" Law Enforcement The Progressive Party supports the use of the death penalty for only the most serious of crimes and only if there is absolutely no doubt regarding the case. However the party also has a few "softer" policies regarding the law and support rehabilitation in prisons, but recognizes that "some are beyond rehabilitation". Education Improving education in Luthori is one of the party's key aims, striving to make it much fairer upon the students. The party completely opposes private and religious schools, maintaining that all schools should teach to the exact same standard and curriculum. However the party supports homeschooling on the condition that the student in question wants it and that they are being taught the same curriculum as in state schools. The party also supports free universities with the subsidization of all tuition fees being a key party policy. Foreign Policy The party takes a moderately isolationist stance towards foreign policy, strongly opposing diplomatic immunity or "over excessive" foreign aid. However the party takes a moderate stance regarding immigration, supporting most migrants being allowed to reside within the nation on conditions such as knowing either Luthorian language well and not having any criminal records. Welfare Fairer and "more helpful" welfare and support to Luthorians is one of the party's founding principles, with the party taking a mostly populist stance towards welfare. Religion The party's strong secular stance is one of the things they are best known for, strongly supporting strong separation between church and state. The party is firmly against having a national religion or any religious schools, branding strong ties between church and state as "outdated". It strongly opposes the strong hold religion has over many parties in Luthori, particularly attacking parties such as the Hosian Democratic Union over it. Science & Technology The party maintains that scientific research and knowledge is "important to the interests of Luthori and Terra alike" and supports nationalized research into important fields such as space exploration, although the party also supports contracting with private companies into scientific research on the conditions that it be to primarily serve the interests of the people as opposed to solely corporate interest. Eccology The party supports animal rights but does not wish to outright ban the killing of animals. Traditionally ecology is one of the main issues on which the party is split upon. However officially the party takes a moderate stance to ecology not pandering to either extremes. Since Oliver Davies took over as party leader in 3971, the party adopted an official policy to oppose whaling, which beforehand the party had no distinct policy on. Party Leaders Presidential/Imperial Viceroy Candidates Electoral History *New Choice later left the coalition in 3977 and was replaced with the HSP. Category:Political Parties in Luthori Category:Luthori Parties